God Made a Pastor
On the day God established the church, God looked down upon the new bride of his Son and said, “I need someone to care for my Son’s Bride until their Wedding Day” So God made a Pastor. And God said, “I need someone who will love her as I love her, who will watch over her and prepare her to be my bride.” And so God gave a Pastor. “I need someone with a heart big enough to care for all my people, strong enough to be broken by their pain, sensitive enough to know when they need special care, and spiritual enough to know my heart for them.” And so God gave a pastor.
God said, “I need someone who will go out in the most troubling storm to search for just one person who has become lost. Someone who is willing to set aside their own personal safety and well-being to care for those who are broken by sin. Someone who is willing to give up the comfort of his home and bed to go in the middle of the night and answer the cry of one of my broken and injured lambs.” And so God made a pastor.
God said, “I need someone who is willing to sit up all night beside someone who is breathing their last, providing them comfort and strength and spiritual guidance to help prepare them for when I bring them home into my presence. I need someone who can look death straight in the face without fear, knowing that I have already conquered death, and then gently lead a family into worship, giving them the assurance that I have given their loved one the final victory.” And so God made a pastor.
God said, “I need someone who is willing to sacrifice his own dreams of success, recognition, glory and financial prosperity in order to serve my bride in the forgotten corners of the world. Someone who does not see his ministry as a career, but a calling. Someone who is willing to devote his life to this service no matter the cost.” And so God made a pastor.
God said, “I need someone who is willing to tell people what I want them to hear, even though they will reject him and criticize him and say all manner of evil against him. Someone who will proclaim my words even when it is unpopular. Someone who will stand before others, proclaiming my message boldly, the whole time feeling inadequate and feeling that he is inept at communication and that no one is listening to his message. Yet, he will stand before my people the following Sunday to preach my word again. Someone who stand for the truth no matter what the cost.” And so God made a pastor.
God said, “I need someone who will be willing to go hungry and thirsty and be poorly clothed, someone who will be roughly treated, toil without recognition, bless those what revile him, endure persecution while loving his enemy. Someone who will be willing to console those who criticize him, someone who is willing to have his reputation destroyed all for the sake of my Son’s bride.” And so God made a pastor.
God said, “I need someone who will be afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. Someone who is willing to be delivered over to death so that the bride might live.” And so God made a pastor.
And God said, “I need someone who is strong enough to get up at 4 a.m. to go help someone in need, comfort a family that tragically lost their teen to a drunk driver, listen to a phone call telling how he is a failure as a pastor and go to a board meeting to discuss the latest conflict in the church but still go home with a smile on his face and when his wife asks how his day went he will respond with, ‘nothing unusual, just a normal day.’ Then get up in the morning to face another ‘normal day.’” So God made a pastor.
And God said, “I need someone who can counsel those going through a crisis, teach a bible study at the local nursing and relate still relate to the teens. I need someone who is a scholar, someone who will understand the depth of Scripture and yet be practical and down to earth. Someone who is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and when someone in his church dies suddenly is willing to cut short the family vacation to provide comfort.” So God made a pastor.
And God said, "I need someone who is willing to be obscure, who is willing to set aside all his personal ambitions and goals in order to minister to forgotten places and forgotten people. I need someone who is willing to sacrifice without complaint, someone who is willing to is willing to lack financial security even as he rejoices in how much he is blessed. I need someone who is more concerned about the spiritual condition of people than his own fame and fortune, someone who is weeps for the lostness of others, even as he gives little thought to his own needs." So God made a pastor.
Then God said, "I need someone who will fearless preach my word without compromise even though it will cost him is friends. I need someone who leads people closer to God even though he knows that he himself is the worst of sinners and most unworthy to be a shepherd. I need someone who loves the unlovable, cares for those who are most difficult, and learns to serve others even when he himself is hurting and broken." So God made a pastor.
And God said, "I need someone who serves without any giving him honor, sacrifices without receiving any expression of gratitude and devotes himself to caring for others.I need someone who is willing to leave everything to follow the calling of God. I need someone who finds his joy in ministry but in the end when he looks back upon his life will only comment will be, "We are worthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done (Luke 17:10)." I need someone who only desire and sought after reward is the affirmation that he has been a faithful servant." So God made a pastor.
“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-12)